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One of Brunei’s well-known beach fronts in under threat of natural calamity. The 1.5 kilometre-long Serasa Beach spit in the Brunei-Muara District was hit by high tide last night bringing along with it massive drifts of rubbish and other debris spilling over along both sides of the road stretching across the entire length of the narrow strip.
Markum, 43, an Indonesian worker at the resort who witnessed the phenomena said “the high tide normally happened in the months of November to December and from January to March”.
“The exceptionally high-tide occurs during the night, sometimes up to three times a week. As workers we are on the alert in anticipation (of any eventuality).”
“This is the result of the high tide which happened last night, around after midnight. As we cleared the rubbish, it came in again bringing in more rubbish. This happened twice a week. And the situation normally worsens when it coincides with heavy rain.”
According to information from the Marine Department and the Brunei Darussalam Meteorological Department, high tide reached heights of 2.33 metres (7.64 feet) by 11.23pm on Wednesday evening during a heavy downpour that ran through the course of the most part of the early morning.
Markum, who is employed with a private company that is responsible for the cleanliness of Serasa Beach, recounts further. “There are times when sea-water meets in the middle of the strip. This occurs when high tide combines with heavy rain and strong wind. It happened this year at the furthest end of the spit.”
However, despite the best efforts of Markum and his fellow workers, trying to clean up the debris that has been unleashed by Mother Nature is a herculean effort, at best. “We would finish clearing the rubbish within a week. But then high tide recurs with more rubbish. Hence the task would become endless. There are four to five of us doing the clearing work.”
He observed further that the rubbish could also be the result of indiscriminate littering by visitors to the beach. But he pointed out that this sadly boils down to an act of irresponsibility. He appealed to members of the public to cooperate in keeping the beach clean by using the rubbish bins that have been provided.
The New Brunei Daily was acting on a tip from the public that the popular Serasa Beach was now increasingly being wantonly littered by irresponsible members of the public.
Lately, the government has been ramping up its efforts to make the people and residents of the sultanate be more civic-conscious by reminding them not to litter through messages via the media as well as through sermons during Friday prayers. It was not too long ago that viral scenes of litter indiscriminately strewn along the new RIPAS Bridge and all over the capital’s waterfront dominated social media despite these numerous public reminders. For those frequenting Serasa Beach, it seems that these messages and reminders have indeed gone unheeded.
In early 2014, Serasa Beach underwent a six-week-long, $3.4 million redevelopment project to beautify it with modern facilities that was officially reopened in March of that year by HRH Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the opening of the Taman Jubli Emas in the capital recently, scores of local volunteers came out to support the government’s efforts to clean up after the event. This spirit of volunteerism was indeed mentioned and appreciated by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam during the New Year titah of 2018.
From these honest observations and heartfelt plea by this foreign worker, it is perhaps high time that more effort and care be made by society at large to ensure that the generous investment and infrastructure provided by the government for our benefit and convenience be returned in kind by acting more responsibly in looking after these
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